A Journey to the Top-50 Cryptocurrencies on Coinmarketcap and Coingecko — Ethereum Classic: The Original Ethereum Vision of Code Immutability

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Coinmonks

7 min readDec 3, 2023

Ethereum Classic is a decentralized smart contract blockchain that originated from a fork of Ethereum after the DAO hack in 2016. By rejecting the fork, ETC continues the original “code is law” vision of an unalterable transaction history.

This in-depth guide will explore Ethereum Classic’s origins, technology, ecosystem growth, tokenomics, challenges, roadmap and conclude with key takeaways on its vision. Let’s dive in!

History and Origins of Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic emerged in 2016 after the Ethereum community’s controversial response to the DAO hack which exploited flaws in the DAO smart contract code to syphon Ether. Here is an overview timeline of events:

April 2016 — The DAO project launches as a crowdfunded decentralized venture capital fund issuing DAO tokens.
June 2016 — A hacker finds an exploit allowing draining of 3.6 million ETH from The DAO contract into a child DAO.
July 2016 — After contentious debates, Ethereum completes a hard fork reverting the DAO hack transactions.
July 2016 — A minority rejects the hard fork on principle of “code immutability” and continues the original chain now called Ethereum Classic with ETC tokens.
2017 — Support is added for Ethereum’s various upgrades over time like EVM bytecode standardization while retaining original vision.
2021 — ETC’s supply cap is removed to enable an unbound monetary policy determined by consensus.

Ethereum Classic’s origins lie in an ideological commitment to true immutability by a minority who rejected centralized tampering of Ethereum’s transaction history. Next let’s examine ETC’s philosophy.

Guiding Principles and Philosophy of Ethereum Classic

Certain key philosophical principles define Ethereum Classic’s purpose in reaction to the DAO fork decision:

Transaction Immutability

ETC prioritizes retaining an undisputed record of all transactions ever occurred without alteration over short-term pragmatic interventions.

Censorship Resistance

Valid transactions cannot be rolled back or erased by authorities based on arbitrary justifications that can become political.

Code as Law

Execution of smart contracts must be final even if they contain flaws or lead to losses rather than deviate from code execution.

Minimized Interventionism

Human or centralized interventions in blockchain’s transaction history should be an absolute last resort rather than a pragmatic tool.

Permissionless Innovation

The viability and costs of innovation on blockchains should be borne by participants rather than expect centralized protections.

Neutral Platform

Ethereum Classic sees itself as a neutral base layer on which anyone can innovate or transact without passing judgments.

These principles of immutability, permissionless innovation, and platform neutrality distinguish ETC’s ideological position.

Key Technical Features of Ethereum Classic

Now that we’ve covered the history and philosophy behind ETC, let’s dig into some of its key technical features:

Ethereum Virtual Machine

ETC runs the EVM allowing deployment of Solidity smart contracts like its sister chain Ethereum.

Proof-of-Work Consensus

Miners use computational power to produce valid blocks and finalize transactions while earning block rewards.

Support for Ethereum Improvements

EIPs and upgrades like the Berlin hard fork are adopted to benefit developer experience while retaining original vision.

Fixed Monetary Policy

ETC has a fixed 210 million supply cap with block rewards reducing over time as per Bitcoin’s deflationary model.

Resistance to ASIC Centralization

Regular hard forking changes the mining algorithm to retain GPU miner decentralization against ASIC dominance.

Reduced Block Times

Average 13 second block generation enables quicker transaction confirmation compared to Ethereum’s 15 seconds.

Uncle Rewards Penalty

Uncle blocks don’t earn partial rewards reducing potential security issues around chain reorganizations exploits.

Integrated Treasury System

On-chain treasury pool funded by directing up to 10% of block rewards for ecosystem development and growth.

By combining Ethereum’s programmability with innovations on mining and monetary policy, ETC distinguishes itself technically from ETH.

Advantages of Building on Ethereum Classic

Based on its architecture and design choices, developing dApps on Ethereum Classic provides some benefits:

Censorship Resistance

Valid transactions and code execution are irreversible, preventing tampering of historical records, even by core developers.

Longer-Term Maximalism

Hard cap on monetary supply provides assurance against excessive inflation from unrestrained expansion over long timeframes.

Reduced ASIC Mining Power

Despite tradeoffs, normal GPU mining provides a model resisting mining centralization through ASIC rigs.

On-Chain Treasury Funding

The decentralized treasury enables funding ecosystem growth initiatives proposed and approved by community stakeholders.

Lower Network Congestion

Limited adoption ensures baseline transaction capacity remains available during spikes unlike more crowded chains.

Seamless EVM Compatibility

EVM support allows porting smart contracts built for Ethereum over to ETC with minimal modifications.

For builders valuing immutability, censorship-resistance, and predictable monetary policy over adoption, ETC offers a differentiated niche.

Competitor Analysis of Smart Contract Alternatives

Despite its strong ideology, ETC adoption lags other major smart contract alternatives catering to a wider audience:

Ethereum

As the inspiration behind ETC, Ethereum enjoys a massive lead across activity, developer momentum, applications and market value.

BNB Chain

Prioritizes scalability, speed and affordability over decentralization purity to gain traction especially across DeFi applications.

Cardano

Follows research-driven approach but still nascent compared to Ethereum’s network effects though it continues gaining mindshare.

Solana

Leading high speed community-oriented blockchain but suffers frequent instability and hardware requirements unsuitable for decentralization.

Polkadot

Seeks cross-chain messaging rather than focusing on scalability or speed as its main differentiation.

ETC’s dogmatic ideology limits its accessibility compared to platforms taking a more pragmatic approach to adoption even at the cost of decentralization purity.

ETC’s Monetary Policy and Tokenomics

ETC uses the ETC token both as a transactional currency as well as a governance mechanism:

Transaction Fees

Users pay fees in ETC to send funds, deploy contracts and have miners process their transactions.

Monetary Base Expansion

Initially, 5 ETC were minted as block rewards. This reduces by 20% after every 5 million blocks mined.

Unbounded Supply Cap

In 2021, ETC moved to an uncapped supply from original vision of 210 million to enable greater community control over monetary policy.

Treasury Funding

Up to 10% of freshly minted ETC is allocated to the on-chain treasury as a source of funding for protocol development initiatives.

Consensus Participation

Miners invest in computing hardware and validate transactions to earn block rewards in ETC proportional to their hash power contribution.

Governance Voting

Users can participate in protocol upgrade decisions and other governance matters by voting their ETC to express their preferences.

As a medium of exchange, store of value, and governance mechanism, ETC forms the core of Ethereum Classic’s blockchain coordination.

Ecosystem Development on Ethereum Classic

Let’s look at some initiatives aiming to drive ecosystem growth and adoption for Ethereum Classic:

EVM Smart Contracts

Support for EVM allows deploying Solidity smart contracts for use cases like tokenized assets, identity, supply chain etc.

DeFi Integration

Decentralized swapping and liquidity protocols like AnySwap allow using ETC with DeFi while retaining ideology benefits.

Stablecoins on ETC

Fiat-pegged stablecoins like USDT provide predictable purchasing power for payments and historic stability for DeFi.

Sidechains

Sidechain projects like DonateChain offer higher throughput for dApps while still benefitting from ETC’s security and decentralization.

IoT and Supply Chain

Partnerships explore applying ETC’s immutability for tracking goods through supply chains and coordinating internet connected devices.

Payments Solutions

Payment processors like CoinPayments allow consumers to pay merchants in ETC for physical goods and services globally.

NFT Marketplaces

NFT creators can leverage ETC’s immutable recordkeeping to create censorship-resistant markets for digital art and collectibles.

Despite limitations, the ETC community continues exploring adoption opportunities spanning DeFi, supply chain, IoT while retaining its core values.

Major Developments and Recent News

Let’s look at some recent developments as Ethereum Classic keeps evolving:

Thanos Network Upgrade

Significant network upgrade activates changes across parameters like block rewards, difficulty adjustment, and gas cost to maintain viability.

Launchpad Introduction

Ignition Launchpad introduced allowing new projects to raise capital on ETC through transparent crowdfunding mechanisms.

Mantle Partnership

Partnership with Mantle blockchain to enable direct bridged transfer of ETC between the chains using Mantle Bridge.

Listing on Coinbase Pro and Robinhood

Major exchange listings increase retail investor access to ETC improving trading activity and liquidity depth.

Great North Upgrade

Previous major network upgrade in 2021 focused on tweaks to monetary policy and difficulty bomb timing impacting mining incentives.

Fixed Fee Model

Switches transaction fee model to fixed native fees rather than gas prices aiming for predictability and affordability.

These developments aim to strengthen network fundamentals and expand ecosystem reach by leveraging external partnerships.

Future Roadmap and What’s Next

Ethereum Classic has ambitious plans to keep evolving its core technology and ecosystem:

Hard Fork Combinator

Planned architecture improvements that allow safely combining protocol upgrades from parallel forks into a unified fork. Enhances extensibility.

Zero-Knowledge Primitives

Exploring zero-knowledge cryptography to enable features like private transactions, proofs of reserves and commitments.

IoT Integration

Expanding role into Internet of Things through sidechains optimized for machine to machine payments and coordination.

Fee Model Improvements

Evolve ETC fee mechanics towards greater consistency, affordability and congestion handling as usage grows.

Scaling Solutions

Off-chain state channels, sidechains, layer 2 solutions like zkRollups could provide throughput improvements while retaining security.

Governance Decentralization

Transition governance rights and treasury fund management to smart contracts controlled by the community rather than centralized core team over time.

Both incremental and radical evolutions on the roadmap demonstrate ETC’s continued drive to build on its differentiating ideological foundations.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

In closing, we can summarize the key conclusions from our analysis of Ethereum Classic’s journey:

As an ideological fork of Ethereum, ETC prioritizes transactional immutability and censorship resistance over pragmatism.
This strict adherence wins supporters among crypto-libertarians but limits mainstream accessibility and developer traction.
ETC offers a niche smart contract alternative focused on predictable monetary policy and mining decentralization rather than growth.
The community manages ecosystem development like DeFi integration and stablecoins judiciously to retain ideological alignment.
Recent progress on partnerships, fundamentals upgrades and funding aim to sustain an enduring community aligned with ETC’s core values.
Overall, ETC’s unflinching belief in an ideology of transactional immutability at scale remains an intriguing but experimental twist on Ethereum’s journey.

Ideologies emerge from bold visions but falter from an inability to adapt under the weight of complex realities. By stemming from a fever pitch fork and clinging to ideological maximalism, Ethereum Classic trades away pragmatism for idealism. Its survival challenges a core axiom — that successful decentralized networks require balancing multiple viewpoints rather than orthodoxy. Yet if digital assets mirror socio-political movements, then perhaps Ethereum Classic’s dissent holds value as an anchor point challenging the status quo with visionary radicalism.